Ethiopia Moves Forward with Major New Grants
16 July 2015
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia - The Government of Ethiopia and the Global Fund partnership today signed four new grants for US$551.6 million to fight HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria and to build resilient and sustainable systems for health.
The financial resources provided through the Global Fund come from many sources and partners, represented today by the UK Department for International Development, the European Union, the Italian Development Cooperation, the United States, GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, UNICEF and WHO, among others.
"With a focus on equity and quality, going forward, Global Fund resources will be used, as in the past, to fulfil our vision for healthy, productive and prosperous Ethiopians… a population free of HIV, malaria and tuberculosis," said Kesetebirhan Admasu, Ethiopia's Minister of Health.
Mark Dybul, Executive Director of the Global Fund, highlighted the progress made to improve healthcare in Ethiopia.
"We are confident that with the continued active support from government, partners in the field, and more importantly, the health personnel, health workers and communities, Ethiopia will realize their national health goals," said Dr. Dybul.
Since 2000, Ethiopia has made significant progress on health-related Millennium Development Goals. The country has scaled up its health infrastructure and prioritized and increased investments in the health and education sectors, which together have led to significant improvements to the health of the Ethiopian population. The government of Ethiopia has expressed its commitment to further increase domestic financing for health.
The Global Fund grants will continue to support the Ethiopian Health Sector Transformation Plan goals and help realize national objectives on improving equity and quality of health services. The grants will also will help achieve universal coverage of bed nets for the population at risk of malaria, provide diagnosis and treatment, and pilot and expand programs to achieve malaria elimination in the near future.
Provision of HIV treatment for people living with HIV is expected to increase by two-thirds, from 340,000 today to 550,000 in 2017. Prevention programs will be expanded to reach the most vulnerable populations including migrant workers, and female sex workers and their clients; support will also be provided to orphans and vulnerable children and their families.
The grants will enable the identification and treatment of over 400,000 tuberculosis and 3,500 multidrug-resistant tuberculosis cases over the next three years, and support community tuberculosis care programs where patients can seek advice and receive supervised treatment from local health posts rather than walking to distant health centers.